The growing trend of married couples opting to remain child-free is raising concerns about its potential impact on Malaysia's population structure and the acceleration of the ageing process.
Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Nov 21) that while the decision to have children is a personal choice, the government encourages couples to consider parenthood.
Responding to Jasin MP Zulkifli Ismail's question about strategies to promote childbearing, Noraini outlined government initiatives, including fertility treatments offered by the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN).
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Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Nov 21) that while the decision to have children is a personal choice, the government encourages couples to consider parenthood.
Responding to Jasin MP Zulkifli Ismail's question about strategies to promote childbearing, Noraini outlined government initiatives, including fertility treatments offered by the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN).
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
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NewsTranscript
00:00My second question is how do we know that with permission, with great demographics comes great power.
00:13A large number of people bring great power.
00:18In dealing with the trend of not wanting children, child free,
00:24what is the government's strategy to help cover costs for young families in particular who are just starting out
00:35to have children due to financial challenges and life-threatening costs?
00:43This is because according to the Accounting and Credit Management Agency,
00:48the cost of raising a child until the end of university
00:54can range from RM 393,000 to RM 1.37 million.
01:10While the current Malaysian and VSI estimates that a family with a simple income
01:17with two children is estimated to need to spend RM 254,304.
01:26RM 254,304 for six years.
01:31My second question is,
01:33how far has the government's approach to raising the fertility rate in Malaysia really succeeded?
01:46Because we have found that the overall fertility rate, TFR,
01:52shows a steady decline from 2.1 children in 2010 to 1.6 children in 2022.
02:06Please, Minister.
02:11Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
02:12Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
02:13And thank you to those who have commented on the additional questions that have been raised.
02:22The decision to have children or not is up to the family.
02:35Whether they want to have children for various reasons,
02:40as Mr. Romad said earlier,
02:42whether it's because of the high cost of living,
02:46the commitment to work,
02:48the desire to have personal freedom,
02:52and the quality of life in the future.
02:55This is indeed a very worrying issue.
02:58And indirectly, it will have a long-term effect on the structure of Malaysian population.
03:07However, we at the Ministry believe that immediate efforts need to be made
03:17to overcome this very worrying trend.
03:24And that is why the government provides various healthy and conducive environments
03:34to help married couples.
03:38We do interventions to meet with this family
03:43to help them choose to have children
03:48rather than being child-free or not having children.
03:53And among other initiatives introduced by the government
03:59to slow down the decline of TFR,
04:05in recent months, additional initiatives have been announced
04:12as a support to families in the form of child care,
04:17such as increasing the exemption of income tax on child care allowance
04:23by employees or paid directly by employers to child care centres
04:29from IDR 2,400 to IDR 3,000.
04:32The government also announced the construction of
04:36the 2024 budget for the construction of 10 departments and departments.
04:42And this shows that the government's commitment
04:47to encourage women to go back to work after giving birth
04:52and the exemption of income tax to go back to work has also been announced.
04:59This means that the decline of TFR will increase
05:09and we hope that the couple's decision will change
05:18from not having children to having children
05:22based on the interventions carried out by the ministry.